He cut her off harshly, “I just said I don’t know, I didn’t say I wouldn’t, Phoebe.”
“Jacoby, if I’ve said anything other than the truth, then I’m sorry.”
“You shouldn’t be sorry for saying the truth if it is the truth. You should always tell me how you really feel.” He sat down on his soft leather beige and closed his eyes wishing she had said something different. She didn’t speak knowing he was in an emotional fight with himself. “How much?”
Again she hesitated before saying, “Ten thousand.”
“That’s all?”
“What do you mean that’s all? That’s too much.”
He chuckled relaxing. “I spend that much on shopping trips to New York, Phoebe. I thought for sure you would ask for much more.”
Her tone was belligerent, “Well us peasants don’t see past check to check like you people do.”
“Don’t be like that,” he coaxed patiently. “I’m not trying to make you feel bad for asking.”
“Then what are you trying to make me feel, Jacoby.”
“Just that. I just want you to feel.”
She didn’t respond to this and he knew she wouldn’t. No emotional attachments in her life. He remembered her saying that to him, but he didn’t think those words would be his own downfall.
“If ten grand is a lot of money for you, how do you intend to pay it back, Phoebe?”
“You can make it a loan.”
“Paying out money like that and getting nothing back in return instantly is a disappointment to me. I like instant returns.”
“I couldn’t pay you back fast, Jacoby. That’s why I had to turn to you.” The frustration in her voice was evident.
“How about we strike up a deal?”
“What kind of deal?” she asked warily.
“Meet me at my hotel tomorrow at eleven in the morning in the lobby.”
“You know I have to work,” she said disappointedly.
“You can call in.”
“I have too much to do.”
“Then I guess borrowing this money isn’t important, is it?”
The sigh was more upsetting than anything, but Jacoby was going to have his way. It took this much of her own stubbornness to get this far. He wondered how much could he push her before she broke down and allowed herself to have some kind of feelings.
“Is it going to kill you to have one day off?” he questioned when she didn’t answer right away. “Maddie works you like a slave horse. You need the time off anyway. Should I pencil you in?”
She forced out her answer, “Fine.” Sarcastically, she asked, “Is there anything I should bring?”
“An honest and open disposition and a smile.” He hung up the phone smiling to himself.
Minutes later, the phone rung again. Desmond wanted to know about the meeting they were suppose to have together tomorrow afternoon to design the installation of his offices.
“I want to reschedule it. I’ll be busy in Detroit tomorrow morning.”
“Detroit’s just a two hour drive, you can get back in time.”
“I plan to be busy the whole day.”
“What hell kind of appointment do you have?”
“That’s none of your business, Desmond, and if you were a smart man you’d keep it to yourself and just say fine Jacoby, when do you want to reschedule?”
“What are you trying to hide? You know I’m a nosey bastard.”
“That you are, but I’m not going to tell. Monday is good for me.”
“It will have to be in Detroit. I’ll be there to finish off Madeline’s installation and help Lawrence check out her set up at her apartment. Swing by around the end of the day and we can have dinner.”
“That’s fine with me. I was going to be in Detroit all next week anyway.”
****
Phoebe hung up the receiver and laid back on the bed closing her eyes. What the hell was she doing? Doing this was not a good idea. Her mother was right. Phoebe was taking a chance on becoming emotionally involved with Jacoby and that was definitely something she didn’t want to do.
“I don’t approve of this,” Patricia said at the door. “Is he going to help?”
“Yes, he will.” Phoebe didn’t bother to open her eyes. “When you get a chance tomorrow can you close the entire account? Call me on my cell phone with the new account information and I’ll have the money go into the account by the end of the day.”
“I don’t like it, Phoebe, and I wish you had told me how you got the money the first time. I would have never allowed you to do it.”
“I’m a grown woman, Mother. You really couldn’t have stopped me if you wanted to.”
“I don’t want you to do this for me. This is no better than...”
Phoebe opened her eyes and looked at Patricia standing akimbo in the doorway. “What? A prostitute? You always told me in life you make choices. Some you regret, and others won’t faze you. Either way you choose those pathways to get by in the world and you have to live with them. I’m choosing to do this and it won’t faze me, Mother. This handsome man with a lot of money wants to make love to me. He wants to give me pleasure and he will pay for it. I don’t mind it and I won’t allow it to affect me.”
“Whether or not you know it, Phoebe, it does affect you. I see the difference at what he makes you feel and what he does to you. What about the other man? Can’t he help? Don’t you have some obligation to him?”
“Lawrence is the last person I have any commitment to, Mother. I like him, but not in a sexual way. He just wants to be friends.”
“That’s crazy,” Patricia. “Unless that man is gay there is no way you can say he wants to just be friends with you. You are beautiful inside and out and any man is a fool to hurt you or use you.”
“He’s not using me, Mother,” Phoebe insisted, knowing Patricia was speaking about Jacoby. “If anything I’m using him. I don’t want to be emotionally involved with anyone right now.”
“But the heart wants what the heart wants.”
Phoebe closed her eyes again. Her father use to say that all the time. Pulling all her wits about her like a shield to protect her, she said coldly, “I don’t think I have a heart anymore, Mother.”
Patricia didn’t say anymore. She left her daughter be for the rest of the night.
Chapter 15
She spoke with Madeline at six o’clock that morning. Phoebe lied with the excuse that one of the twins was ill and she needed to stay at home in case their temperature became worse. Madeline told her to keep her cell phone on in case she needed anything. Simon could handle everything, but he seemed very disappointed and very reluctant to take over the responsibilities of the office.
Taking a long hot shower, she washed up thoroughly and then put on a sweet smelling perfume she always loved to wear. Donning on black velvet mid-thigh length dress and matching shoes, it felt odd to wear something like this on a Thursday morning, but wearing the dress did make her feel quite seductive.
Going to the mirror, she turned around to see the outline of her underwear. Biting her lip indecisively, she removed them and tossed them in the hamper and then looked back in the mirror. With no stockings, her legs still looked smooth and toned. Her heels made them look even more attractive and she almost couldn’t wait to see his expression when he saw her. Sweeping her deep brown hair in a clip, she allowed the curls to dangle all about her head giving her a wild seductive look.
Just as she was about to call her cab to get downtown, the phone rang. She hesitated before answering, praying it wasn’t him canceling.
“How are you, Phoebe?” Lawrence asked on the other line.
She relaxed. “Great, now that I hear your voice,” she teased playfully.
He laughed genuinely. “Now that’s what I like to hear from you. You definitely know how to make a man feel wanted. I was planning on bringing lunch over and keeping you company for a while, but how about dinner. I could bring it over for you and the kids.”
/> “Lawrence, that’s so sweet, but my son’s acting real itchy,” she quickly lied. “I’ve been away from home so much, he probably just needs some Mommy time.”
“Are you sure? I really don’t mind.”
“I insist on a rain check, Lawrence.”
“Well, I do need a favor for this weekend. I’ve asked Madeline’s permission too.”
“What kind of favor do you have that I need Madeline’s permission to fulfill for you?” Phoebe asked.
He chuckled deeply. “I have a client whose having this awesome birthday party for his five year old grandson complete with a circus and on a ranch. I would like the client to swing my way and if I show up for the party he invited me to attend with two of the most beautiful twins in Detroit, I am positive he would love me to death.”
She laughed knowing he was complimenting her children to earn some brownie points with her. Knowing that she could read him so well, enforced her belief that she could control herself when it came to Lawrence and he would be a better catch than Jacoby with regards to her heart even coming close to being involved. “When is the party?” she asked.
“This weekend in Harper Woods.”
“That’s a bit of a way.”
“Well, that’s why he’s sending his boat to deliver us up there and bring us back. Plus, we can leave Friday night and get back by Saturday night all rested up.”
An overnight with Lawrence as company. It did seem a bit too much. She knew him, but only over the phone when they spoke.
He could sense her dilemma. “I’ll be the perfect gentleman and I even requested separate rooms to be set up at his guest house for us. Madeline’s going to allow you to leave early to get home and get the kids ready.”
“Can I bring my mother? To help me with the kids.”
“Of course. I don’t mind. The more the merrier I always say. So I can pick you up tomorrow night about seven?”
“Yes,” she said. “It’s a date.”
“I like that.”
She said her goodbyes and hung up with him wondering if Jacoby had told Lawrence anything about her. Lawrence didn’t seem like he would be interested in her good girl type of from all the times he had spoken to her in the past, so his sudden interest in her could be construed with wariness. Matter of fact, he had been all business, although he could be attracted to her now that he had seen her for the first time at the office. Men seemed to garner interest in her visually initially because she was impersonal most of the time. Shielding her true self had become second nature since Daniel left her.
With this pushed to the back of her mind, she called for her cab and nervously waited to go downtown to the hotel. When she arrived in the lobby, it was five minutes early and she took a seat near the front desk. After two minutes, she couldn’t be still enough to sit and stood up looking at the front doors to see when he came in.
Large hands pressed on her side, and his body moved against hers from behind her suddenly. Lips caressed the side of her neck just under her ear, sending warm chills down her spine. She knew it was him without even looking behind her.
“You smell beautiful,” Jacoby whispered in her ear. “You smell good enough to eat, Phoebe.”
Facing him, as his arms encircled her waist, she looked up at his handsome face and her breath caught in her throat. Seeing him again, made her body tingle all over. She had missed him, but was too proud to admit it. Moving her arms around his neck, she softly said, “And will you be tasting me now?”
“In public? Don’t you think we’ll cause a scene?” he teased.
With a throaty sensual laughed, she returned the jest and suggested, “Kissing me on my lips?”
He raised a deep cinnamon brown brow in wicked amusement. “I wasn’t thinking about those lips.”
She blushed deep red as his mouth captured hers fully. Her passion quickly came to equal his and by the time he moved away and looked down in her eyes, he could tell she was very happy to be there. Taking her hand, he steered her into the elevator and prayed no one would be in there.
Unfortunately, others came on the elevator. She moved in front of him, and he pressed his hardened manhood against her full apple-bottom. She took his hand and moved it under her dress from the rear to let him know she was bare as a newborn baby. He softly groaned behind her and she could tell he really wanted the elevator to hurry up. Once they were on his floor as soon as the elevator door closed, he swept her up and carried her to the room kissing her face, neck, and chest. He almost kicked the door down and slammed it closed once they were inside.
“You’re going to break the door,” she giggled amused by his eagerness.
“Fuck the door,” he snarled, laying her on the couch kissing her as if it were going to be his last. She reveled his passion with her own, practically tearing his clothes off and entwining her legs around his waist.
Through his anxious kisses, she fought for control knowing if they didn’t stop he would lose what little control he had.
“Wait, Jacoby,” she whispered desperately.
He groaned again, but didn’t stop meaning he heard her, but was too far-gone to do anything. He was fighting with her zipper in the back of her dress trying to get it down, but it was being stubborn. Cursing under his breath, he gently nudged her back and pushed her dress up until she was fully exposed to him.
It was her turn to groan as his finger pressed deep into her wetness. She gripped his shoulders digging her nails into his shirt, as her body exploded from his single touch and when he began to maneuver his hand sending ripples of pleasurable waves all over her body, she exclaimed her joy to the heavens, not wanting him to ever stop. Throwing her head back, closing his eyes, she screamed at the top of her lungs.
Jacoby knew this was his opportunity to catch her off guard as he moved down and replaced his mouth over her hot liquid fired womanhood. His arms encircled her thighs and locked around her hips to keep her in place, as she seemed to scream her pleasure even louder.
Tears streamed down her face, she was so overcome with emotions as he pushed her body to the utmost pleasure. There was no fight to stop him. He had drunk that away and replaced that with the urge to never let him go.
Even after her orgasm, he didn’t stop giving her pleasure with his lips and in that moment she knew he enjoyed it and it made the act even more intimate. This man had found a way to join so close to her that she knew she would never be able to resist him. He had the control and she relished in giving in to his wonderful mouth never wanting him to stop.
Jacoby knew at that moment he had branded her and he felt like the king of the world. Seeing her body at his mercy was powerfully arousing and as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his lips tasting herself on his tongue, Jacoby had no doubt in his mind when the day was all over, she would be his.
Now there was no barriers with their lovemaking and Jacoby was sure he would know she was lying if she said she had not felt something for him. As he joined with her, bringing her to even greater heights he relished in every touch every feeling she gave him and knew he would want to make love to her forever.
Once he expended himself, joining her in their own private heaven, Phoebe covered her hands over her face.
“Why did you do that?” she asked looking up at him.
“Why shouldn’t I have?” he asked innocently.
Shaking her head, she closed her eyes. “We’re supposed to be using precautions, Jacoby,” she scolded.
Lightly kissing her neck, he chuckled pulsing deep within her. She gasped at the sharp tingles that hit her. “Caution went out the door hours ago, Phoebe.”
Looking through her fingers at him, she frowned. “What’s that suppose to mean?”
“If you were so cautious, young lady, you would have never accepted my offer that night in the first place.”
Defensively, she said, “I’ve never done that before in my life and you know my reasons.”
Sarcastically, he said, “Oh yes, your mother.” M
oving away from her abruptly, he stood up from the couch. “And if you were so cautious this time, why didn’t you insist we use protection.”
She smiled thoughtfully. “Actually that was the furthest thing on my mind.”
Helping her up, he narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “You have nothing to be embarrassed about, Phoebe. This is all very natural.”
“No it’s not. People don’t make love with their clothes on.”
He gave her a look of pure exasperation. “Whoever put these crazy notions in your head on what people are suppose to do when they make love Phoebe should be shot.”
“Would you do the shooting?” she teased.
“Gladly. Whatever you believe or have been told about how to properly make love, I wish you would throw them out the window, at least when you are with me. I can’t believe someone would distort you with rules about lovemaking. When you’re with someone you make the rules up as you go.”
She warily allowed him to take her hand and guided her up a small round of stairs off in the opposite direction of the bedrooms. He glanced back at her and chuckled at the perplexed expression on her face.
“You really should start trusting me, Phoebe. Have I done anything to harm you?”
“Not yet,” she said warily, but she was definitely teasing by the silly smile on her face. “I’m not holding my breath though.”
“You don’t have to because it will never happen.” He came to double thick oak wood doors that were closed. Jacoby pulled her in his arms. “Can you promise me something just for today?”
“Maybe.” That distrustful look was still in her eyes.
“Just for today, could you act as if you were the happiest woman alive and trust that if just for today, you’ll have the full attention of a man who wants you to experience the greatest pleasure there is.” He gave her a peck on her nose. “Now let’s get all clean again, then we’ll eat.”
She blushed at those words.
“I meant food,” he said, seeing her turning red, with a gently tap on her posterior.
Deceptive Nights Page 8
